The Ugly-girl Papers; or, Hints for the toilet. (With associated ephemera)

At head of title: Reprinted from “Harper’s Bazar.” New York : Harper & Brothers, Publishers, Franklin Square, 1878. Second edition. Small octavo (165 x 112 mm), publisher’s blind-blocked green cloth with gilt lettering to upper board and spine (boards lightly marked, spine ends softened); first blank with the ownership inscriptions of the book’s first two owners, Portland (Oregon) residents Ellie H. Milford (November 1878) and (presumably her younger sister) Clara J. Milford (August 1882); pp. i-[viii],[9]-283, 2 (publisher’s ads.); binding firm and generally clean throughout, some pages with off-setting; a unique copy containing over fifty relevant newspaper and magazine cuttings and manuscript notes gathered or penned by the Milfords and dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, most loosely inserted, a few pasted in or pinned onto blank pages; all of this extra material pertains to personal health and beauty, and includes advertisements for creams, potions and tonics, tips for healthy exercise and lifestyle, handwritten homemade recipes etc., transforming the book into a fascinating repository of popular and scientific views on feminine health and beauty around the turn of the twentieth century.